United States Books

Dr. Sharp's poignant and humorous stories of a vet's life in a rural area remind me of the great Dr. James Harriott books that I have enjoyed. I highly recommend No Dogs in Heaven.

Don in Chilli

I happened to pick up this book on my way to the airport. The title caught my eye. I have a 16 year old son that shares my love for dogs and I thought
maybe he would also read it and we would have something to talk about
during our trip. We were on the way to Hawaii and I finished the book
before we landed. I couldn't put it down. It was so much fun to read.
The lady sitting next to me said "You are truly enjoying that book. I have
seen you laugh, sigh, giggle and even cry while reading it. I am going to
buy it as soon as I get home.".
My son now wants to become a vet his grades are good, especially science and math, and we live near
"The Ohio State University", so he may even attend the same Vet school as
Dr. Sharp!I have sent a copy to my parents and two neighbors.

I think this book is adorable and well-written. I'm enjoying it!

On the surface this book describes the days of a small-town vet. But it goes well beyond that to illustrate the ambiance of this country when people and times were more personal, more gracious, and much more in tune with those things that still really matter no matter how "global" we are claimed to have become by the talking heads of the media and government.
It will convince the reader that those "better times and people" really haven't disappeared, and that is tremendously Good News.

This is a must have book for anyone who has pets. Some of his experiences are quite comical and others are heart touching. Very well written. You will want to share it with your friends. I highly recommend!

"On The Air"
I've been after this one for some years but couldn't make the price tag.
Finally I found one of Amazon's amazing cut price sources & grabbed it.
It arrived at my UK address in as secure a package as you could hope for and for a third of its original price! It is as near mint condition as one could expect and is one great hunk of reading. I'll be older and feebler before I reach Z with this one! I can't say I'm familiar with all shows as a UK guy but it'll be interesting to plough through the many shows that either I never heard of or that never quite made it. It was mainly thanks to AFRS & its dedication to keeping the troops in touch with Hollywood & the stars during their wartime golden days that drew me (and thousands of other UK listeners)into the web of American radio and now thanks to those dedicated groups like YUSA and OTR much has been preserved to be recaptured & appreciated as if it were yesterday,again! A solid souvenir for all fans of this incomparable media of the mind.

Whether you wish to know about the great or the small radio programs of the past, this book is for you. It is more than a resume of the various radio programs but rather is a complete history. With the more famous shows, entries can be several pages. Each entry is well researched and seems to be very complete, from cast members to those "behind the scenes." This is the definitive work, in my estimation.

Being an old time radio fan for more than 15 years and having collected more than 45,000 programs I was looking for a reference book that allowed me to better track what I have and what I wanted to look for. John Dunning's book is that and so much more. The detail he has included for the series listed is simply amazing. From showtimes to networks to cast to sponsors to a behind the scenes type view of each series you're left feeling like you were there the whole time.

This book is a must have for both novice and serious collectors of these fine old programs. You won't be disappointed in the detail. If you're looking for pictures then this isn't the book. It is a beautifully written reference book that gives you insight to not only the shows themselves but the actors and actresses who starred in them.

Simply put, a wonderful read!

Highly informative, well written, entertaining, sometimes exhaustive. I read this through from cover to cover (several evenings) - a process that has not tempted me with any other encyclopedia! Brings back many memories while adding much information new to me. Great stuff!

This book has everything you could ever need to know about OTR. Meticulously researched. I asked my father in law about shows he used to watch and he named some I never heard of and he said were just local shows and wouldn't be in this book. Wrong! This book had them and even said that they were local shows. If you want an encyclopedia on old time radio, this is the one to get!

First, Jonathan Eig is a tremendous writer! He does have a tendency to detour along tangential lines, but that adds to the richness and backdrop of the drama that was experienced by Jackie Robinson. Eig transforms history into humanity with cameo appearances by icons such as Babe Ruth, Malcolm X, and Sidney Poitier. I felt the sense of pride that African Americans of mid 20th century America must have felt. It bolstered the idea of "Only in America". This was a civil rights story before Till, Brown v. Board.., Parks, and King. I hurt with Oscar Charleston, Josh Gibson, and a litany of other Negro Leagues stars born "out of season". I smelled the hot dogs of Ebbets Field. I met and loved Branch Rickey. I watched Pee Wee Reese, Eddie Stanky, and Dixie Walker and many others mature. I adored Jackie Robinson for his talent and demeanor. All courtesy of Jonathan Eig, who BROUGHT IT!

Jonathan Eig is developing an expertise at rehabilitating hackneyed young-adult biography heroes. First with Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig and now with "Opening Day", Eig takes a baseball player whose legend has become tarnished by excessive praise, and retells the story from its original context, restoring a sense of wonder.

The story of Jackie Robinson has with time become a story about the heroism of Jackie's white teammates. History now tells us that they bravely accepted and embraced him, over society's disapproval at the ending of baseball's color line. At least, that's how Eig first approaches and then rewrites the tale. In "Opening Day", the spotlight rightly shifts back to onto Jackie himself, as well as to his wife Rachel, the rock at the center of his life. We hear from Jackie himself via contemporary interviews and from his assigned beat-writer from the black press.

The discussion of Jackie's acceptance among his teammates is limited to how they did not in fact accept Jackie as one of them: Eig fails to uncover any evidence that the rest of the Dodgers tried to socialize with or befriend Jackie in any meaningful way once they stepped off the field.

Branch Rickey, who gets rightful credit as the man who integrated baseball, is also shown as the shrewd businessman he is, in both the good and bad sense. Rickey was the executive who refused to trade one of Jackie's most vocal teammate critics, realizing that his pennant hopes resided in that man's bat. He further refused to give Jackie a significant raise for 1948 even though Jackie's presence generated value in publicity and gate that far exceeded his meager rookie paycheck.

Most compellingly, Eig retells the story of the 1947 season month by month, primarily through contemporaneous newspaper accounts. We see the variable way Jackie was treated by the press, and whose agenda affected which stories. A national publication tried to anoint Spider Jorgensen, a strictly league-average third baseman, as the league's top rookie, in a veiled slap at Jackie's aggressive Negro League style of play. We also learn things not commonly told: we know, for example, that Larry Doby was the second black baseball player in 1947, but Eig goes further and tells us who came third and fourth (a cynical move by the St. Louis Browns), and which white owners opposed integration in the disingenuous name of preserving the Negro Leagues.

"Opening Day" could stand to go farther and tell a bigger story. Jackie's post-1947 career and personal life is shunted into a brief epilogue that hints at a possible second book of equal depth. Of course, the space within "Opening Day" is well used: the three chapters devoted to the 1947 World Series are well researched and lively told. Even in a book about Jackie Robinson, the other unlikely heroes and goats of that series (Bill Bevens, Cookie Lavagetto, Al Gionfriddo) still deserve their space.

A complex, nuanced portrait of Jackie Robinson, told with stunning detail and insight into the first black man to play major league baseball in the 20th century. As an historical account, this book goes beyond myth and revisionist morality to create what feels like a genuine account of a complicated man in a complicated place. As a baseball book, it is wonderfully expansive on an important era with lots of legendary players. As a literary work, it is a top-notch narrative told in an elegant, rhythmic cadence. It also gets high marks for journalistic technique and style. If all writers of sport possessed Jon's rare combination of gifts, the genre would be a lot richer.

This is the second book that I have read from author Jonathan Eig. The first, Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig, was such a great retelling of the life of the Iron Horse, that my expectations when picking up Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season were quite high.

Opening Day is the story of Jackie Robinson's first year in the majors, and the challenges he faced when he became the first black American to play Major League Baseball. Any true fan of baseball knows the story of Jackie Robinson, his importance to the game and the lasting impact he has had on the United States. But, Eig manages to provide a fresh look at this historical year, focusing not only on the challenges and bigotry that haunted Robinson, but also on the lives that he touched in 1947 and for years to come.

One of the more intriguing stories from the book was that of Jackie's teammate Dixie Walker. When Robinson's Dodger teammates were informed that he was coming up from the Montreal Royals to play with the team, Walker wrote the team's general manager, Branch Rickey, asking for a trade. There were also rumors that he led an effort by the Dodger players to get Jackie off the team. Dixie always denied the accusation, but nonetheless, he was basically a self-proclaimed bigot - worried about what his family and friends in Alabama would do if he played alongside a black man.

Like authors before him, Eig could have easily cast Dixie as the villain of the story. But instead, he details how playing with Jackie helped Walker evolve into a better man. Within time, Walker started to respect Jackie for his toughness and determination. He started giving Jackie pointers on how to improve his game, and later in 1947, he stood up for him (along with all of Jackie's other teammates) when opposing teams would hurl racial epithets at Jackie. Robinson made Walker start to question his views on minorities and Walker came to realize what he learned about blacks while he was growing up was wrong. After that, Walker played with, coached and managed black players throughout the rest of his career, and later said Jackie was "as outstanding an athlete as I ever saw."

This is just one example of the impact that Jackie had on the lives of others. Stories are sprinkled throughout the book about the significant impression he left on his teammates, other players in the league, broadcasters, league executives - and most importantly, the next generation of black Americans who would continue the struggle for equality in America.

Opening Day, definitely lived up to my expectations and surpassed them, and I highly recommend it for any fan of baseball and/or American history - and to anyone who is interested in understanding the important role Jackie Robinson played in the evolution of the United States.

Eig's extensive research and thoughtful treatment of Jackie Robinson does not vary or question the general truth of his legend: Robinson played the game well under tremendous pressure with little or no support and demonstrated in the process the skill and courage that entitled blacks to equal opportunity. But Eig does add some new perspectives that make the legend far more interesting.

First is the general unpleasantness of Robinson. He's like Pete Rose in his burning desire to win at all costs and would rub some people the wrong way regardless of his color.

Second and perhaps most important is Eig's ability to introduce more subtlety into the story. Eig destroys the legend of Pee Wee Reese publicly encouraging Robinson on the field in the face of racial abuse. That did not happen, at least not in 1947. Robinson is utterly alone in 1947 and has to prove himself to his teammates. Branca is the only guy to make a point of shaking his hand when he first appears, which adds to Branca's own legend as a man of character, but even Branca essentially ignores him for much of the season. Some of this is racial, of course. But some of it is the culture of baseball: a rookie must prove himself.

Robinson's ability to peform in these circumstances, under the most tremendous pressure possible, adds to his legend and makes his 1947 season perhaps the most admirable of all seasons. Eig is also good at introducing subtlety into the legends surrounding Robinson's oppressors. There is some rumbling on the team, but that quickly dissipates. Most interesting is the role of star player Dixie Walker. Walker felt compelled by his southern roots, and by his desire not to have his business punished in the south, to make a point of objecting and asking for a trade. But thereafter, he drops the protest. The problem for Robinson was not simply the obvious bigotry, but his freeze-out by the rest of his team until he could prove himself under the most trying of circumstances. Walker may have given Robinson a few batting tips and may have dropped his trade demands, but neither he nor anyone else took Robinson under his wing. Even in baseball's demanding culture of ritualized abuse of rookies, a rookie will eventually be taken under someone's wing. Robinson did not have that benefit.

The protests of other teams has also been exaggerated. It appears that there were some murmuring on the Cardinals to try to boycott Dodger games, but that fizzled before it started. The Phillies were grossly racist in their bench jockeying, but backed off early in the season. The Yankees in the 1947 World Series had a few nasty bench jockeys.

What emerges from all this is the pain of the gross racism aggravated by the agonizing loneliness of Robinson as he has to endure everything and prove himself. Eig convincingly shows that by the end of 1947, Robinson succeeded in proving himself and was the MVP of this team. Only then was he accepted by Pee Wee Reese, the team's captain.

All of which demonstrates Branch Rickey's wisdom in choosing Robinson as the man to break the color barrier. Robinson had mental toughness and competitive fire. The rap on black athletes was that they were not mentally tough, and Robinson was exactly the right guy to disprove that myth. Choosing a more passive personality would not have made the point, and choosing a less disciplined soul who would have got into physical fights in 1947 would not have worked either. But it is interesting to learn how Robinson sometimes crossed the line (such as spiking Rizzuto in the 1947 Series) and how close Robinson came to losing it.

Robinson emerges as a complex and truly great man in this narrative. This is an excellent book that I highly recommend.

As a trained mental health professional, I wanted to read the book for purely academic and research reasons. However, I found myself going on a personal journey of exploration into the relationship between myself and my father with schizophrenia. This book was amazing to me on multiple levels.

Unfortunately, most readers of this book, as well as the author of the book, even if he is his son, are misinformed. I've spent a lot of time around mentally ill people who really do seem to have something dead wrong in their brain/body biochemistry, as well as imbalances of all sorts. Charles Lachenmeyer, the Outsider, was not crazy, except for the extremely stressful situations that he was forced into from OUTSIDE ( pun intended ) sources. He was no fool, he had a PhD in sociology and was a University professor of the same. A man doesn't just go from that kind of being to a homeless guy sleeping in a puddle of his own urine on a park bench in -0 degree weather. His books are still in the sociology section of Borders and Barnes n' Noble bookstores. What happened was that Charles came up with a multi-million dollar idea as to how to revolutionarily re-structure society in a much more efficient way. However, he refused to share his idea with his colleagues, thusly with the government. Charles wanted full credit for his own idea, and rightly so. So his colleagues teamed up with various government and probably military agencies to try to ruin his life, basically to torment him into sharing his breakthrough idea of sociology. Anyone who is naive enough to doubt that various agencies are well-versed in mind-control technology and psychological warfare, needs to seriously deprogram themselves from their own mental conditioning. MK ULTRA, MAJIC, OPERATION MIND CONTROL, etc. as well as other operations are no mere conspiracy stories, even the agencies themselves willingly admit that they did these operations now, being that so much time has passed. Unfortunately, Mr. Charles Lachenmeyer was subject to their torture devices. His embarrassing dreams at night were, in turn, reenacted the following days in braod daylight public view to humiliate him by " strangers ". His family life was sabotaged away from him, leaving him all alone except for his comanion, his dog. Of course, then, the dog was kidnapped away from him, leaving him emotionally bankrupt and spent. He was then subjected to the final part of the plan, which was to make him seem like some crazy " schizophrenic " spouting off conspiracy stories, and unfortunately, even his son Nathaniel, bought into this. The whole time Charles was homeless, he was writing, more and more he was expanding on his breakthrough, as well as exposing the mind-control that he was subjected to, probably naming important names in his book. Charles was ultimately killed, and " his papers were mysteriously lost in a flood in his apartment " ( how convenient to lose all of the evidence ) All in all I think Nathaniel did well to honor his dad in this book, and I do believe that his intentions were good. The book is excellent, and I read it back to back 3 times in a row. But .... Seem like he was simply a brilliant man that became schizophrenic? Well let me pat you on the back, that's exactly what they want you to think.

I found the Outsider to be a fascinating book, one that really opened my eyes to the problems encountered by those suffereing from mental illness and schizophrenia. The son's journey to understand the father and piece together the last few years of his life is heart-wrenching and the reader truly sympathizes with his pain and anguish. A terrific book that I heartily recommend.

THE OUTSIDER brought the pain and the struggles of Charles Lachenmeyer to life. Charles was a brillant sociology professor who gradually was transformed into a victim of paranoid schizophrenia. Even at his lowest points, he kept trying, and he kept believing in humanity. In one letter to the author, he wrote, "No matter how adverse the circumstances--and mine have been adverse--there is never any reason to give up . . ."

This book breathes life into a person with mental illness, and it brings understanding. It left me in tears and with a deep respect for Charles.

I truly believe this book should be read by everyone, not just people that are going into the mental health field. I was required to ready it for a Social Work class I am currently taking at the undergraduate level; however, I can say without a doubt it is by far the best book I have ever read! Lachenmeyer really brings home the stigma and heartache that is experienced by people and their loved ones suffering from such a debilitating mental illness. Most people are unaware of the devastating effects mental illness can have on a person and their family. This book highlights so many issues concerning mental health as to responsibilities of people in the system, stigma, prejudice, and the tolerance of society in general to someone suffering from mental illness. Moreover, this book was really an awakening that this could happen to anyone at any time. I wish everyone could read this book as it really teaches a lesson on humanity!!

Positive Pushing speaks to our times and the difficulties parents face when determining how much or how little to push their children to achieve success in life. We all want to motivate our kids to succeed in life, but how much is too much? When do we push and when do we back off? Dr. Taylor, through examples, research, and his own personal wisdom, walks this delicate line, showing the pitfalls and dangers of both sides, and leads us to creating a healthy, balanced and purposeful life for our young ones. In the highly competitive world we live in today, no home with children should be without this important work on their bookshelf.

If you're living vicariously through the life of your child- step out of the way. In his book Positive Pushing, Dr. Jim Taylor teaches parents to step back and examine the root of their attitudes towards their child's successes and failures and provides a win-win model for positive encouragement. He teaches parents to equip their children with an internal compass to which they can gauge their own successes and failures, while always keeping focused on giving their personal best.

When it comes to literature on young achievers, Dr. Taylor's book stands out from the pack. Positive Pushing brings to light the oftentimes overlooked and misunderstood world of emotions, family dynamics, and external & internal expectations that young achievers face during their school years and beyond.

Taylor cuts to the chase when it comes to examining achievement and happiness, making the necessary distinction between external achievement and achievement that includes the internal experience of joy in the process. In so doing, Taylor details the type of guidance and support he encourages parents to provide in order to ensure their children experience success and happiness simultaneously.

Taylor pulls no punches as he cautions parents to examine their own motives, desires, and expectations. At the same time, he skillfully guides parents on how to navigate the terrain of ensuring their children grow into happy, resilient, confident, and successful adults. Taylor draws from his extensive professional experience as well as from current research in the fields of child development, sports psychology, and other disciplines. He provides examples in the areas of academics, sports, and the arts that every parent will quickly recognize as true-to-life. He even details red flags, along with accompanying advice on ways to respond to them.

Positive Pushing is a resource as practical as it is thought-provoking. It is a must-read for all interested in ensuring that our children are truly happy in their success.

Dr. Jim Taylor does a fabulous job clarifying a parent's role in his book, "Positive Pushing". He gives you a framework to guide decisions about children's activities, schedules and responsiblities. I don't feel the panic to join everything or the guilt about not letting them quit piano lessons. He taught me what is negotiable with my three boys and what isn't. I am more of an in-charge parent. We have a new house rule: "one sport, one music...no more, no less". It has worked beautifully for 3 years now. Everyone is trying new things but they are not overwhelmed because they are trying too many new things and they are not bored because they aren't trying anything new.

Dr. Taylor taught me to own my part of parenting and to let my boys own their part. They are proud of the "excellence" they achieve by always working as hard as they can. The word "perfect" has been removed from our vocabulary. Once you open your eyes to how imperfect everything is...you'll never put that pressure on yourself or children again. Dr. Taylor brought joy back to my parenting and, I hope, to my children's childhood again.

Every parent owes it to themselves to read this book! Thanks Dr. Taylor!

Jim Taylor is pushing too hard in trying to resolve various parenting and parenting/adult issues in one book. He probable knows a lot about achievement but he couldn't convince me about how positive pushing/control can be with kids--he starts with a promising argument but feters out in his style of discussion. He cites good research but his own ideas/interpretations are unoriginal and unconvincing. He is also inconsistent in his opinions (i.e., unconditional love does not exist then in next sentence he says that parents are to love their kids without condition). He also talks about achieving "balance" without real-life solutions. He does have lists of behavioral solutions in the end of the chapters but they seem disjointed and almost exhaustive, making me feel more like my kids and I would be more exhausted than "balanced". The tone of his book was bland and too distancing--I found myself skimming his chapter intros. He sounds more like a motivational speaker or academician than an experienced parent (he cites kids/families he's worked with but no personal stories about his own family). For a more "balanced" approach in parenting and easier read, I recommend "Hold on to Your Kids" by Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Mate.

The book provides an inside view of Star Gate, the government's secret program of remote viewing. By the time Paul Smith wrote this book, most of the information he needed had been declassified, and the program allegedly shut down, if you believe that.

The book describes the structure of how they remote viewed a target, from the fundamental to specific gestalt, and how this could be taught to anyone, since everyone has this ability.

I'd consider this one of the better books I've read on Star Gate and remote viewing in general.

This book is a great reference and historical record of the emergence and use of remote viewing from inside the military machine. A great addition to all serious remote viewing researchers library, its well written and one of those hard to put down books. There are a few good books on remote viewing and this is so far the best in trying to create a historical overview of RV and address many of the inaccuracies of the previous historical overview book (The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies).

This is also a great reference tool for anyone trying to fathom the 89,000 pages of CIA remote viewing documents released through the Freedom of Information act.

Paul Smith has produced a wonderful book here. It captures so much detailed information that it should make a wonderful documentary source. Yet, it is written so clearly that for those who have read other books on the subject (like me) it is very easy to skim to the parts that contain new information, insights, and details (and there's a whole lot of ALL of those throughout this book!) This book is a must for anyone who wants a more complete picture of the subject matter, as well as a feeling of greater familiarity with the fascinating and enjoyable personalities of the players involved.

I'd suggest Paul Smith's book to students of self discovery and military historians alike. Reading the Enemies Mind provides a concise and engaging history of our nation's remote viewing program. Those seeking to further advance their potential will discover many advanced concepts that have yet to reach mainstream society.

What I most enjoyed about this book was the author's optomistic view of the future of remote viewing. The abilities to tap this newly discovered area of human potential have yet to be fully explored. This newly discovered science holds great promise and may someday lead to a cure for disease, advanced education and furthering our intelligence and understanding. Perhaps someday our political and military leaders will use this potential to advance our civilization rather than simply using remote viewing as a military intelligence gathering tool.

While various forms of remote viewing have existed since the dawn of civilization, Paul Smith carefully documents the proven effectiveness and scientific reality that refutes serious critics and encourages those with a limited understanding. I'd recommend this book to anyone seeking a more advanced understanding of their human potential.

Reading the Enemy's Mind is a fascinating history of the Star Gate program. I've read accounts of a couple of other former Star Gate participants and they are either sensational and fictionalized (David Morehouse) or short on history (Dale Graff). Paul Smith's account is comprehensive and doesn't make wild claims. His tome is a level-headed treatment of the program. He's very upfront that for every success there are many failures.

Some of my favorite successful remote-viewing stories from Reading the Enemy's Mind include viewing Aldrich Ames - the CIA traitor, the USS Stark attack, and the capture of rogue DEA agent Charles Frank Jordan.

In 1987 Star Gate was tasked with finding the mole in US intelligence. CIA sources in the Soviet Union were disappearing or being executed and people wanted to know who was giving them away. Star Gate came up with a composite of the traitor. Among the details was that he drove a gray European car and was involved with a Columbian woman. While many of the other details were off, Smith wonders what might have happened had the Star Gate information been used:

"The fact of the car alone might have significantly narrowed the field of possible suspects in the CIA. How many CIA employees owned grey European luxury cars in 1987? Certainly some, but percentage-wise not that many. And how many CIA employees had a significant relationship with a Latin American woman, especially a Columbian?" (p. 340)

Smith remote viewed the "accidental" Iraqi missile attack on the US destroyer Stark 50 hours before it occurred. He described the colors of the attacking military ("tan uniforms with black belts and bits of red and green."), the unprofessional nature of the attackers ("they reminded me of a militia as opposed to a professional military"), and the explosion itself ("The structure/vessel shivers, shakes, quivers. 'There were a 'clang,' a 'screech,' and a 'metallic squeal...'").

A final story I'll share is that of the rogue DEA agent, Charles Frank Jordan. This agent had turned bad and escaped custody. The DEA was convinced he was in the Caribbean. A remote viewer thought he was in Wyoming. "This information was so out of line with where Jordan was thought to be, that at first the authorities were inclined to ignore it. Finally, one agent decided that it would do no harm to alert police in that part of Wyoming.(p. 384)" Jordan was apprehended shortly after that - in Wyoming!

I highly recommend Reading the Enemy's Mind.

The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright was first published in 1941, and though it was written many years ago, is as delightful now as it was then. It's a story about a family who loves each other, works hard and strives to do the right thing. How refreshing!

Mona (13), Rush (12), Miranda (10 ½), who is known as Randy, and Oliver (6) live in New Your City in a brownstone that is rather shabby, but has many floors and fits their lifestyle perfectly. The Melendy children's mother died, but their father and Cuffy, the beloved housekeeper, provide the love, attention and care the children need.

Each of the children has dreams and desires for their futures. Their interests are varied and they each are independent and inquisitive about life and their surroundings.

But while the Melendy children find life generally interesting, Saturdays can sometimes be just plain boring. The children form a club they call the Independent Saturday Afternoon Adventure Club (I.S.A.A.C.). All of the children agree to pool their allowances and each child takes a Saturday with all the money to do something by themselves that they really want to do.

The Saturdays are exciting, not just because of the activities they choose, but because of the people they meet and the stories they hear. Well, Oliver does make one Saturday particularly memorable, but you'll have to read the book to learn about his adventure.

In the day of the novels that glamorize the worst society has to offer, The Saturdays is delightfully refreshing.

Armchair Interviews says: Read the series and enjoy!

This book is different in a good way. It is about 4 children who decide to put there allowences to a good use. Every Saturday the add up there allowence and one of the children gets to do any thing that they will always remember.
By,
Girl With A Plan

I had doubts for this book because it didn't sound very interesting but my Mom wanted me to read it so I did-I loved it. It's original and imaginative and above all easy to read for hours without getting bored. It's original and fun like the story of Mrs. Olifount being kidnapped by jypsies, or Isaac the dog saving the family from suffocating. It's a wonderful book I can't wait to read the sequils.

When I was nine years old I picked up a copy of Elizabeth Enright's "The Melendy Family" on sale for 25 cents at my school Christmas fair, donated by some eighth-grader who evidently felt she had "outgrown" it. I wonder, does anybody ever outgrow the Melendys? "The Melendy Family" was a three-in-one volume comprising "The Saturdays", "The Four Story Mistake", and "Then There were Five". Alas, "The Melendy Family" is no longer in print, but fifty years later, I still have my copy, read to shreds, patched and repatched with scotch tape, a book to be treasured forever and never thrown away. Fortunately, the books making up "The Melendy Family" have been reissued as individual volumes available to enchant yet another generation of young readers.

"The Saturdays", the first volume in the series, introduces us to the four Melendy children: Mona, age 13, Rush, age 12, Randy, who is ten-and-a-half, and Oliver, age 6. Each is given a distinct personality and Enright modeled them on children she had known in her own life, her own children or childhood friends. The result is four fictional characters so totally believable that for years after the books were published, Enright continued to get letters from readers wondering if the Melendys were "real".

The Melendy children's mother is deceased, but they are raised by a devoted, caring father and Cuffy, their beloved housekeeper, who stands in as nurse, cook, substitute mother, grandmother, and aunt, and generally rules the roost. The children are funny, refreshing and unspoiled. Mona has aspirations of being a famous actress and already at thirteen can recite "yards and yards of Shakespeare at the drop of a hat." Rush is the next to the oldest, a musical prodigy with a penchant for getting into and out of trouble. Randy at ten-and-a-half (the half is very important at that age) is an endearing mixture of grace and klutziness, a talented dancer and artist who keeps falling over her own feet when it comes to manual labor. And six-year-old Oliver is the baby of the family, placid and calm, very much his own person, as his story shows.

The story opens on a rainy Saturday which finds Randy and Rush monumentally bored with nothing to do. Randy wants to see a some French paintings. Rush wants to go to the opera. Mona wants to see a play. But in the early 1940s (the approximate time in which the story is set is revealed in the opening pages when Enright tells us that the long scars on the linoleum floor were made by Rush trying out a pair of ice skates on Christmas afternoon, 1939), fifty cents a week allowance was standard, and there wasn't a whole lot you could do with that. Randy has a brainstorm. Let's start a club, she says, and pool our allowances together each week so one of us can spend them on something we've always wanted to do. This idea is adopted enthusiastically by all the children (Oliver wants to contribute his ten cents, too), and thus the Independent Saturday Afternoon Adventure Club (ISAAC) is born.

Each following chapter describes an adventure that takes place on each child's Saturday. Randy goes to see an exhibition of French paintings, runs into an old family acquaintance, Mrs. Oliphant, and is treated to tea at the Plaza while she hears a delightful story of the time Mrs. Oliphant was kidnapped by gypsies during her childhood.

Rush goes to the opera, walks home in a snowstorm, and finds a lost puppy that becomes the family's devoted friend and companion from that day on.

Mona, tired of her long braids, goes to a beauty parlor and treats herself to a haircut and a manicure. The resulting uproar by her father and Cuffy seems a trifle overdone, but as Father later admits, it's hard for parents to realize that their children are growing up.

And Oliver, keeping his own counsel, sneaks out of the house when his Saturday comes and goes to the circus all by himself. An even greater adventure occurs when he is given a ride back home by a mounted policeman on a horse, after he gets lost leaving Madison Square Garden.

After Oliver's adventure the kids decide to spend their Saturdays as a group, but that doesn't stop them from having mishaps such as Randy falling overboard from a boat in Central Park, the family almost suffocating from coal gas when Rush forgets to shut the furnace door, and the storeroom catching fire. It all comes to an exciting conclusion when Mrs. Oliphant invites the children to spend the summer in her lighthouse in Long Island.

"The Saturdays" takes us back to a simpler time and to adventures that probably couldn't happen today (no parent in his right mind would allow a ten year old to go to a museum alone in the New York City nowadays), but kids are still kids, and the Melendys seem so real they could be anyone we knew when we were children, or wish we had known. The time frame may help children understand what a dollar could purchase back then (a wash, set and manicure, or admission to a museum with change to spare). The whole series is a gem for every child and every generation. I still marvel at the priceless find I picked up off a bookshelf at random fifty years ago for only twenty-five cents. It's paid me back a zillion-fold ever since.

Judy Lind

I wanted to respond to the reviews below that thought it was either implausible or dated for children aged 10-13 to wander around New York by themselves. I grew up in New York (in Manhattan, across the park from the Melendys) in the late 1980s. I turned 13, just Mona's age, in 1990. I started walking home from school alone in fourth grade (when I was nine, a year younger than Randy). Like Mr. Melendy and Cuffy, my parents' major worry was that I was careful crossing the street. (Reasonably enough, they feared that drivers would not be able to see a small child.) Many of my friends from elementary school walked or took the bus to school alone at the same age. By twelve (Rush's age), I was allowed to take the subway to visit friends from junior high school, and they took the subway to visit me. By fourteen our teachers assumed that we were competent to find the Metropolitan Museum of Art on our own for projects. None of these people were neglectful, and none of them were "horrified" at the idea of pre-adolescents wandering around the city alone. This was in the supposed "bad old days" when crime was theoretically much higher than it is now, and none of us ever suffered any accident. (Although a group of friends and I got lost coming back from the theater in eighth grade, and were pretty embarrassed that we looked like tourists.)

Anyone familiar with the geography of New York City knows that the Melendy children stay within a fairly small geographic area in THE SATURDAYS, and that the areas where most of their adventures take place are some of the richest and safest in the city. Most sensible New York parents would allow their children to wander there on Saturday afternoons with no more concern than the appropriate ones that Mr. Melendy shows. (Be careful of traffic, don't talk to strangers, and don't get lost.)

Ironically, this ties in with the review that says that Enright did not take enough "risks" with the book, by having her characters get kidnapped by gypsies or run away from home. The fact is, she wrote a fairly realistic description of the childhood of the middle and upper-middle classes of New York City....kids who come into CONTACT with a relatively diverse group of people who have had a variety of experiences, but who actually live in a fairly safe, and sheltered world.

As a New York City kid, I was thrilled to read a book that reflected MY real life experience, as opposed to yet another story about kids who lived in houses with back yards and rode a school bus, and generally had no relationship to my real life. I still love THE SATURDAYS for its loving description of a New York that has in some ways remained startingly the same, even though parts of it have disappeared (no more two way traffic on Fifth Avenue, and no double decker buses!). As other reviews have said, The Saturdays is a charming, well-written book for kids, that can also be enjoyed by adults. It's also one of the few accurate and positive stories about growing up in a great city. I would recommend it for all ages.

A decade ago, what we ate wasn't on the radar of most people. The musings of a few hermits, a handful of anti-government critics and your garden variety assortment of conspiracy theorists and crazy people was all that one had when it came a debate on whats being done to our nation's food supply.

Thats why Seeds of Deception is such a welcome addition to my bookshelf. For the first time there is well-researched publication with sources cited and ducks in a row that provides the reader with a through, in-depth look into how today's scientific community is damaging our food supply with their manipulative practices designed to milk farmers - and the American public - for every last red cent possible.

Other countries do not have the problems with obesity, diabetes and other similar diseases that Americans do. While the media takes the approach that its just the way we are, some are not willing to accept that explanation as fact. Seeds of Deception goes a long way towards exploring the possibility that this is not just another evolutionary fact of life on our green and blue planet, but something a bit more down to earth, man made and much more sinister.

Quite simply a great book with life altering data.. The things you will learn in this book will be of great value for your entire life. I honestly believe this book should be a required reading for every citizen and taught in or classrooms.. While this will never happen due to the truthfulness of its content you should take this book and make it a part of your life.. I believe this book can save many lives with its simple message.. Buy it, read it, and be a better person for it..

I have known about GMO foods for a while, but I did not realize how far it has gone. This is a must read for every single American. Get in touch with your legislatures now and act on this. Every single school and library across the US must have this book. If you value your health and which I am sure most people do, we have to come together as a nation and WE have to stop GMO foods. The big pharma is taking control over all of us and it's all being done under our noses. GMO foods, mandating vaccines, how far are we as a nation going to let our freedom keep slipping. Read this book, save yourself, children, friends, and neighbors. I give it to people to barrow and everyone that has read it, the jaws are dropping.

Jeffrey Smith has done an excellent job in exposing the truth about genetically modified foods. Seeds of Deception is easily understandable, compelling and well documented. It's disheartening that the people in control of the food supply are so focused on their bottom line and don't seem to care about the long-term health and safety effects of introducing foreign genes into the food supply. Genetically engineered ingredients are already in foods on the grocery store shelves right now. If you care about your health, you need to read this book, avoid processed foods and buy organic.

The subtitle, "Exposing Industry and Government Lies About the Safety of the Genetically
Engineered Foods You're Eating", is covered pretty well in this attack book. Some corporations
are greedy and unethical. It is easy to believe bad things about FDA. The CYA attitude
that bureaucracy fosters in bureaucrats, and the common pattern of industries coopting the
regulators, make the accusations against the FDA easy to believe, and even easy to expect.

What is not so easy to believe is the overall message of the book. All genetically modified
foods are bad for you. They are less nutritious than the natural alternative, and will harm
you in one or many ways such as allergies, cancer, nervous disorders, ulcers, reduced intelligence.
sexual problems, misformed children, or many more, and any evidence to the contrary is faked
by our corrupt government and the evil corporations in this vast biotech conspiracy.

There are interesting parallels between the beliefs in this book and the beliefs of creationism
or intelligent design, and also with the catastrophic anthropomorphic global warming alarmists.

There are extensive notes of sources and an index, so you can use this book to help you argue
against engineered foods, or to search for arguments against the claims in the book. The phrase
"precautionary principle" does not appear in the index, and I do not recall seeing it in the
text, but the idea is stated repeatedly: genetic engineering should not be done until it has
been proven safe for many generations. Essentially, nothing should ever be done for the first
time.

While most of attack is against genetically engineered foods in general, with the usual weasel
words such as "might", "could", "linked", and "Believed", there are also specific claims against
certain foods. There might be more such specific claims than recalls of organic foods after the
death of consumers, but I'm not sure of it.

The last chapter is a commercial for the book. You should buy lots of copies and give them to
everyone that is not aware of the evil plot. There is also information about how to avoid the
evil food. Unless you are already in the know, you are probably eating it now. That makes me
wonder where all the bodies are hid, and why life expectancy keeps going up.

Smith has another book out, same topic. I have not seen it yet. In response to it, there is a
claim that Smith claims he can fly (yoga, not airplane), and other hard to believe powers.
The attack on Smith seems like the attacks he accuses Montsano of, so I checked it. The Daily
Illini says the article describing his "powers" was published by them on page 4, Oct 28, 1996.
Smith's strange beliefs do not make his book wrong, but they might lead some to find him less
reliable than some others. I was almost at the 90% mark of the book when I encountered the slam.

The book reduced my confidence in bioengineering, reduced even further my confidence in government,
and left me still skeptical of attacks on bioengineering.

Lorraine Rhodes was a single teenage mother who shared parenting duties of little Ashley with her twin sister. They lived in a trailer and worked different shifts. Their home became the cool teen party hangout since there were no real adults around. Lorraine's maternal instincts were casual (when Ashley was a toddler, Lorraine strapped her into a car seat but not into the seatbelt; Ashley once fell out during a drive). Lorraine hooked up with an abusive boyfriend named Dusty, and was soon expecting. That baby died, but Lorraine became pregnant once more, delivering Ashley's brother, Luke.

The family moved to Florida when Ashley was three. There, Dusty ran into trouble with the law, and the two children were taken. Ashley was too young to understand that she would never live with her mother again, as she and Luke entered a foster home --- the first of 14 she would live in over the next nine years. No one explained to the three-year-old why she couldn't be with her mother. When she did finally see her mother, Lorraine said they would live together after she found a nice home and a good job. Ashley yearned for her mother constantly as she was moved from foster home to foster home, sometimes with Luke and other times alone. Lorraine visited occasionally, always promising that Ashley would live with her "someday."

Ashley and Luke were able to stay at their grandfather's house in South Carolina where they were relatively happy, thanks to their grandfather's live-in lady friend, Adele, who enjoyed mothering them. Yet they lived in fear that they would be removed from that home because Adele and their grandfather weren't married, and because Grandpa was frequently in jail and had a history as a wife abuser. Despite the instability of the situation, Ashley was so happy she felt like she was in a dream.

But when Grandpa got shot during an argument in front of the children, they were removed and sent back to Florida, where they entered Ashley's seventh home in two years. Their new "home" was packed full of foster kids, reeked of filthy diapers and was reigned over by screaming parents (as grim as this sounds, it was not their worst foster home, not by a long shot). Needless to say, Ashley and Luke were thrilled when they were sent back to Adele in South Carolina, where they were content until once again they were returned to Florida. During Ashley's nine-year stint in 14 foster homes, she encountered 44 caseworkers. None of these people, paid to help foster children, saved Ashley from living through sickening abuse at the hands of foster parents.

Finally, one woman, a volunteer named Mary Miller, took a special interest in Ashley. Eventually, Ashley was adopted by a loving family, although she agreed to it with major reservations (the three little words from the title were her "I guess so" when the judge asked if she agreed to the adoption). Ashley believed that the adoption could never last; she is frank about her problems adjusting to her new life after years of hopelessness.

Ashley Rhodes-Courter, who sued her most abusive foster parents, works tirelessly to help children in the foster system. She has spoken to the Senate, and many other groups, about the need for foster care reform. And in this excellent page turner, she gives vibrant voice to those voiceless, helpless children caught in this nightmare, giving us insight into a national tragedy. I highly recommend her heartbreaking and inspiring memoir.

--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon

Three Little Words is one girl's disturbing true journey through forgottenness, abuse and multiple foster homes. Hope IS found finally, but the process before that is heartbreaking, infuriating and senseless.
I was inspired by this girl's candor and courage, as well as by the power of CASAs and GALs to redeem lost kids.

Excellent book that describes what is both wrong and right with the foster care system. Reading this book should be a requirement for all social work students. This book is one of those "hard-to-put-down" books that is both informative and enjoyable.

From a person who has experienced it all, Ashley Rhodes-Courter has shown America the dirty, underlying truth. Everything from speeches to her book, Three Little Words, Ashley has made a difference in the minds and souls of Americans.

This deathly true book has the reader on their toes with every page. Ashley explains her past and all the families she has had to put up with. Yes, even those that treated her terribly. Ashley tells about the first time her and her brother where separated from their mother and other family members. As she grows older in the foster care system, the reader follows Ashley through her highs and lows, good families and bad, and everything in between. Until one day, Ashley finds a family that wants her. These new parents help her through every problem. With two other boys in the family, Ashley's new parents find room in their hearts for one more. But sooner than Ashley thought, the day comes that she has to make that dreadful choice... three little words that will change her life forever. Those three little words you will have to read to find out, along with all the other mysteries in her life.

I would recommend this book to any one who loves to read about something that is holding back so many children. It has a mind changing plot and a heart warming ending that will catch any reader's attention. It will also change the mind of the reader and help those who want to speak out against the traitors.

I purchased this book thru my book club i am a child who grew up in foster care and Ashely's story mirrored my own. I could not put this book down. I read it in one sitting.

I recommend this book to all the people who are constantly firefighting everyday to make their mass production businesses better, faster, stronger and quicker. How many more words that end in "er" do you need to rally the troops in growing your businesses? Tom Wentz shares his real world management experience through his book and demonstrates with great logic how to change your mass production status quo and "CREATE" the structural changes you need to CREATE a mass customization powerhouse.
If you have an open mind and are ready to end the corporate frustration you experience today, I recommend that you read Tom's book and learn how to lead the necessary transformational change you need to become successful in today's business environment. Your employees and customer's will love you for it!!!

Written by the Thomas K. Wentz (President of Corporate Performance Systems Inc.), Transformational Change: How To Transform Mass Production Thinking To Meet The Challenge Of Mass Customization is a solid and deftly presented guide for adapting to the new and evolving demands and realities of a globalized marketplace where merely churning out vast quantities of a product is simply not enough to be profitable. Now, more and more, customers want goods and services uniquely tailored to their tastes, and they are willing to pay for it - so much so as to change the shape of international businesses worldwide. Learning how to incorporate customization for maximum consumer satisfaction and profit is a rocky road, but individual chapters of Transformational Change address a range of relevant problems including corporate restructuring, gathering appropriate intelligence, competitive advantages and disadvantages, and a great deal more. Transformational Change is a truly excellent resource and a highly motivational reading for business managers at all corporate levels of responsibility.

Tom Wentz is the quinessential change agent! His book, "Transformational Change" describes clearly the process of change from mass production to mass customization. While the book is an easy read, you'll want to revisit it many times because of the great depth it possesses.

Mr. Wentz shows that insanity truly is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. He likens it to those "hackers" out on the driving range who continually use the improper swing and expect a drive 275 yards straight down the middle.

In light of the events since September 11, 2001, Mr. Wentz expertly shows the need "not to defer the the experience of living today" and to become truly fulfilled at work, at home or in your communities.

This is must reading for anyone who wants to transform their existence.

Transformational change addresses the problem of how to deal with change when moving from a mass production oriented business to a customer centered customized production business. One of the truly unique perspectives of this book is that it discusses and details the process of such a change. Many similar books effectively argue the need for change but then provide no direction on how to make the change. Thomas Wentz' book provides detailed discussion and processes for creating that complete transformation of your business

In the past most businesses were based on a mass production focus. Success and management were evaluated on a numbers basis. How much has sales increased? How many items were produced during this period last year? This numbers orientation tends to cause people to work hard to meet the numbers as their primary focus. In this scenario employees typically don't go beyond what is expected of them. There is no motivation to create a unique world-class organization. Add to that the fact that times have changed and customers now require a solution or product that is customized to their specific needs. If you can't provide a customized solution or product then they will simply go to a competitor that can. Is this just another business direction change? Thomas Wentz argues that it is more than just a directional change, it requires a complete transformation of the business from one form to another completely different form.

A nice extra to the book are the numerous "Key points" scattered throughout the text. By summarizing the prior information in just one or two sentences and making it stand out from the text it is easy to quickly read over the key points of the book and refresh your memory on an ongoing basis. An excellent book on business and change that also has some applicability to personal change, it is a recommended read.

I have read Tom's book twice. The second time very carefully because I wanted to be sure that I was not being seduced by the obvious. I was not. This is an addition to the literature on leading change. Many of the terms are familiar but Tom has brought them together in a way that creates a new picture of the forces that change -- and don't change -- business.

I have become somewhat sceptical of all of the warnings of the dramatic shifts in paradigms that business must face to survive but Tom has succeeded in explaining the shift from mass production thinking to something new in a way that can be understood. I get a clear picture of what it means when there is a new context requiring new thinking. Not every business will face the same changes in context but every business needs to understand if and when its context changes.

I am distributing this book to the sixty CEOs in my CEO peer groups for them to read and discuss. I am also going to schedule an opportunity for them to participate in a simulation to experience first hand the limits that mass production thinking imposes on our search for solutions.